Rubio-aligned group goes on air to defend Ayotte on guns

Sen. Marco Rubio's political action committee is going up with a TV ad defending New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte's votes on gun control.

"Safety, security, family - no one understands these things like a mom, and no one works harder for them than this one," the ad says, showing a photo of Ayotte. "A former prosecutor, Kelly Ayotte knows how to reduce gun violence."

The ad, being run by Reclaim America PAC, represents the first time the PAC has gone on air for a specific candidate. Reclaim will spend six figures on the ad, a source familiar with the buy said, in New Hampshire markets. The ad will start airing on Tuesday.

Ayotte, who is not up for reelection until 2016, has been the focus of gun-control advocates after she voted against the compromise bill on stricter background checks proposed by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Pat Toomey (R-PA) last month. Ayotte got into a back-and-forth with a Newtown family member victim at a town hall earlier this month during a congressional recess in New Hampshire.